Music: Three, to Five-Thirteen

What's the difference between music and noise? Beethoven may have killed himself had he ever heard a Gorgoroth song, perhaps Gaahl would punch a little child in the face if Moonlight were to greet him.
How couldn't a heavily distorted guitar be considered similar to what my brother thinks is a pig being slaughtered (which it isn't; growing up in a family of farmers and chefs, I know the difference), it's noise isn't it? A growl or squeal played at different pitches.

Well, I don't know, I'm not an expert on such matters. But it takes a special ear to truly hear a great piece of music; the way, say (since it co-stars in a short story of mine), the winds dance with the strings in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or all the intricacies and little variations that make up How Could I?, just one song out of Cynic's cumtastic masterpiece, Focus (and I'm just referring to the drumming, not Paul Masvidal and Jason Gobel's insane guitar work or Sean Malone's fretless bass playing).

Maybe it is all worthless, ear-scraping noise, but the soft melody sings to me. And it's the millions of little things, defiantly intertwined that make it, to me, more than simple, meaningless "noise".